Lear. Thou were better in thy grave, than to anfwer with thy uncover'd body this extremity of the fkies. Is man no more than this? Confider him well. Thou oweft the worm no filk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha! here's three of us are fophisticated; thou art the thing itself, unaccommodated man is no more but fuch a poor, bare, forked, animal as thou art. Off, off, you lendings. Come. Unbutton here. [Tearing off his clothes.

Fool. Pr'ythee, nuncle, be contented; 'tis a naughty night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild field were like an old lecher's heart, a small spark, and all the reft of his body cold. Look, here comes a walking

fire. '

2

Edg. This is the foul Flibbertigibbet, he begins at curfew, and walks till the firft cock. He gives the 3 web and the pin, fquints the eye, and makes the hare-lip; mildews the white wheat, and hurts the poor creature of the earth,

of them, and repeats these two lines as every fresh one is introduced:

Dolphin, my boy, my boy, &c.

The fong I have never feen, but had this account from an old gentleman, who was only able to repeat part of it, and died before I could have fuppofed the difcovery would have been of the leaft ufe to me.- As for the words, fays fuum, mun, they are only to be found in the firft folio, and were probably added by the players, who, together with the prefsfetters, were likely enough to corrupt what they did not underftand, or to add more of their own to what they already concluded to be nonsense. STEEVENS.

·Flibbertigibbet ;] We are not much acquainted with this fiend. Latimer in his fermons mentions him; and Heywood, among his fixte hundred of Epigrams, edit. 1576, has the following, Of calling one Flebergibet.

"Thou Flebergibet, Flebergibet, thou wretch!

"Wotteft thou whereto lait part of that word doth ftretch?
"Leave that word, or I'le baft thee with a libet;
"Of all woords I hate woords that end with gibet.'

STEEVENS.

3web and the pin,-] Difeafes of the eye. JOHNSON.

+ Saint Withold footed thrice the wold;
He met the night-mare, and her nine-fold;
Bid her alight, and her troth plight,

And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee!

Kent. How fares your grace?

Swithold footed thrice the OLD;] The old, my ingenious friend Mr. Bishop fays, muft be wold, which fignifies a down, or ground, hilly and void of wood. THEOBALD.

thus:

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold,

He met the night-mare, and her NINE-FOLD,
Bid her alight, and her troth plight,

And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee !] We fhould read it

Saint Withold footed thrice the wold,

He met the night-mare, and her NAME TOLD,
Bid her alight, and her troth plight,

And aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee RIGHT.

i. e. Saint Witold traverfing the wold or downs, met the night-mare; who having told her name, he obliged her to alight from thofe perfons whom the rides, and plight her troth to do no more mischief. This is taken from a story of him in his legend. Hence he was invoked as the patron faint against that distemper. And these verses were no other than a popular charm, or night Spell against the Epialtes. The laft line is the formal execration or apoftrophe of the speaker of the charm to the witch, aroynt the right, i. e. depart forthwith. Bedlams, gipfies, and fuch like vagabonds, used to fell these kind of spells or charms to the people. They were of various kinds for various diforders. We have another of them in the Monfieur Thomas of Fletcher, which he exprefly calls a night spell, and is in these words:

"Saint George, Saint George, our lady's knight,
"He walks by day, fo he does by night;

"And when he had her found,

"He her beat and her bound;

"Until to him her troth he plight,

"She would not ftir from him that night." WARB.· In the old quarto the corruption is fuch as may deserve to be noted. "Swithold footed thrice the old another night moore and her nine fold bid her, O light, and her troth plight, "and arint thee, with arint thee." JOHNSON.

Her nine fold is the fame as her nine foals; i.e. her nine imps. I cannot find this adventure in the common legend of St. Vitalis, who, I fuppofe, is here called St. Withold. T. T.

Enter

Enter Glofter, with a torch.

Lear. What's he?

Kent. Who's there? What is't you seek?
Glo. What are you there? Your names?

Edg. Poor Tom; that eats the fwimming frog, the toad, the tadpole, the wall-newt, and the waternewt; that in the fury of his heart, when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for fallets, fwallows the old rat, and the ditch-dog, drinks the green mantle of the standing pool; who is 5 whipt from tything to tything, and ftock-punifh'd, and imprifon'd: who hath had three fuits to his back, fix fhirts to his body; horfe to ride, and weapon to wear,

6

But mice, and rats, and fuch small deer
Have been Tom's food for feven long year.

Beware my follower :-peace, Smolkin, peace, thou

fiend!

Glo. What, hath your grace no better company? Edg. The Prince of Darknefs is a gentleman;

7 Modo he's called, and Mahu.

Glo. Our flesh and blood, my lord, is grown fo vile, That it doth hate what gets it.

Edg. Poor Tom's a-cold.

whipt from tything to tything,

-] A tything is a divifion of a place, a district; the fame in the country, as a ward in the city. In the Saxon times every hundred was divided into tythings. STEEVENS.

6

fmall deer] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads geer, and is followed by Dr. Warburton. But deer in old language is a general word for wild animals. JOHNSON.

Thefe two line are taken from an old black letter'd romance of Sir Bevys of Hampton, quarto, printed for William Copland, in which occurs this paffage. PERCY.

7 Modo he's call'd, and Mahu.] Thefe names are all taken from Harfenet's Declaration, &c. as are Hopdance, Fratterretto, Purre, Haberdicut or Obidicut, Smolkin, &c. Thefe laft were the devils that poffeffed Sarah Williams.-Harfenet, page 181.

STEEVENS.

Glo.

Glo. Go in with me; my duty cannot fuffer To obey in all your daughters' hard commands: Though their injunction be to bar my doors, And let this tyrannous night take hold upon you; Yet have I ventur'd to come feek you out,

And bring you, where both fire and food is ready. Lear. First, let me talk with this philofopher. What is the cause of thunder?

Kent. My good lord, take his offer:

Go into the house.

Lear. I'll talk a word with this fame learned Theban. What is your ftudy?

Edg. How to prevent the fiend, and to kill vermin. Lear. Let me afk you one word in private.

Kent. Importune him once more to go, my lord., His wits begin to unfettle.

Glo. Canft thou blame him? [Storm ftill. His daughters feck his death.-Ah, that good Kent!He faid it would be thus.-Poor banish'd man! Thou fay'ft, the king grows mad: I'll tell thee, friend, I am almoft mad myself: I had a son,

Now out-law'd from my blood; he fought my life, But lately, very late; I lov'd him, friend,

No father his fon dearer. True to tell thee,

The grief hath craz'd my wits. What a night's this? I do befeech your grace.

Lear. O cry you mercy, Sir.

-Noble philofopher, your company.

Edg. Tom's a-cold.

Glo. In, fellow, into the hovel; keep thee warm.

Lear. Come, let's in all.

Kent. This way, my lord.

Lear. With him?

I will keep ftill with my philofopher.

Kent. Good my lord, footh him; let him take the

fellow.

Glo. Take him you on.

Kent. Sirrah, come on; along with us.

Lear.

Lear. Come, good Athenian.

Glo. No words; no words; hufh.

8

Edg. Child Rowland to the dark tower came,
His word was fill,fie, fob, and fum,
I fmell the blood of a British man.

Enter Cornwall and Edmund.

Corn. I will have my revenge, ere I depart his houfe. Edm. How, my lord; I may be cenfur'd that nature thus gives way to loyalty, fomething fears me to think of.

Corn. I now perceive it was not altogether your brother's evil disposition made him feek his death; but a provoking merit, fet a-work by a reprovable badnefs in himself.

Edm. How malicious is my fortune, that I must repent to be juft! This is the letter which he spoke of, which approves him an intelligent party to the

8 Child Rowland

-] In the old times of chivalry, the noble youth who were candidates for knighthood, during the feafon of their probation, were called Infans, Varlets, Damoyfels, Bacheliers. The moft noble of the youth particularly, Infans. Here a story is told, in fome old ballad, of the famous hero and giant-killer Roland, before he was knighted, who is, therefore, called Infans; which the ballad-maker tranflated, Child Roland. WARBURTON.

This word is in fome of our ballads. There is a fong of Child Walter, and a Lady. JOHNSON.

Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Woman's Prize, refer alfo to this:

a mere hobby-horfe

"She made the Child Rowland." STEEVENS.

but a provoking merit,-] i. e. A merit which being neglected by the father, was provoked to an extravagant act. The Oxford Editor, not understanding this, alters it to provoked Spirit. WARBURTON.

advantages